Brilliant

Remembrance of Things Past

Swann's Way is Marcel Proust's literary masterpiece and the first part of the multivolume audiobook Remembrance of Things Past....

EXCELLENT!

By
Maggie
on
08-18-10

The Arabian Nights Entertainments

By:
Louis Rhead

Narrated by:
Charlton Griffin

Length: 14 hrs and 33 mins

Unabridged

Overall

198

Performance

184

Story

184

The central core of the stories concerns a Persian king and his new bride....

Includes stories absent from other versions

By
D. Fearon
on
11-21-13

War and Peace, Volume 2

By:
Leo Tolstoy

Narrated by:
Neville Jason

Length: 31 hrs and 24 mins

Unabridged

Overall

1,170

Performance

917

Story

920

War and Peace is one of the greatest monuments in world literature....

A long book, but at least the chapters are short

By
Tad Davis
on
09-11-08

Devils

By:
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Narrated by:
George Guidall

Length: 28 hrs and 2 mins

Unabridged

Overall

127

Performance

118

Story

116

Exiled to four years in Siberia, but hailed by the end of his life as a saint, prophet, and genius, Fyodor Dostoevsky holds an exalted place among the best of the great Russian authors....

Excellent translation and narration

By
Lawrence
on
09-06-13

Anton Chekhov

A Life

By:
Donald Rayfield

Narrated by:
Fred Williams

Length: 28 hrs and 33 mins

Unabridged

Overall

20

Performance

11

Story

12

Anton Chekhov's life was short, intense, and dominated by battles....

moving insight into life of writer

By
Leo
on
01-09-09

Buddenbrooks

The Decline of a Family

By:
Thomas Mann

Narrated by:
David Rintoul

Length: 27 hrs

Unabridged

Overall

121

Performance

115

Story

113

David Rintoul gives one of his finest performances in this committed and deeply moving reading....

Condemnation of Materialistic Decadence

By
W Perry Hall
on
02-15-17

Madame Bovary

By:
Gustave Flaubert,
Lydia Davis (translator)

Narrated by:
Kate Reading

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Unabridged

Overall

229

Performance

189

Story

187

Madame Bovary is at once an unsparing depiction of a woman’s gradual corruption and a savagely ironic study of human shallowness and stupidity....

Ironic, humorous, and restrained

By
Esther
on
05-13-13

Publisher's Summary

A Russian author, playwright, and physician, Anton Chekhov is widely considered one of the best short-story writers of all time. Having influenced such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and James Joyce, Chekhov’s stories are often noted for their stream-of-consciousness style and their vast number. Raymond Carver once said, “It is not only the immense number of stories he wrote - for few, if any, writers have ever done more - it is the awesome frequency with which he produced masterpieces, stories that shrive us as well as delight and move us, that lay bare our emotions in ways only true art can accomplish.”

In The Complete Stories of Anton Chekhov, Volume 2: 1886, Blackstone has compiled fifty-five of Anton Chekhov’s short stories: Art, A Blunder, Children, Misery, An Upheaval, An Actor’s End, The Requiem, Anyuta, Ivan Matveyitch, The Witch, A Story without an End, A Joke, Agafya, A Nightmare, Grisha, Love, Easter Eve, Ladies, Strong Impressions, A Gentleman Friend, A Happy Man, The Privy Councillor, A Day in the Country, At a Summer Villa, Panic Fears, The Chemist’s Wife, Not Wanted, The Chorus Girl, The Schoolmaster, A Troublesome Visitor, The Husband, A Misfortune, A Pink Stocking, Martyrs, The First-Class Passenger, Talent, The Dependents, The Jeune Premier, In the Dark, A Trivial Incident, A Tripping Tongue, A Trifle from Life, Difficult People, In the Court, A Peculiar Man, Mire, Dreams, Hush!, Excellent People, An Incident, The Orator, A Work of Art, Who Was to Blame?, Vanka, and On the Road.

Anton Chekov (1860–1904) was the author of hundreds of short stories and several plays and is regarded by many as both the greatest Russian storyteller and the father of modern drama.

Critic Reviews

Praise for Anton Chekhov: “It is not only the immense number of stories he wrote…it is the awesome frequency with which he produced masterpieces, stories that shrive us as well as delight and move us, that lay bare our emotions in ways only true art can accomplish.” (Raymond Carver)

Story

Translators make a big difference

What could Anton Chekhov have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Chekhov did great, it was the translator I don't like.

Any additional comments?

I wish I would have checked the listing on Amazon before purchasing because as I found out 1 minute in, its the Constance Garnet translation. Other translations are better, but publishers prefer Constance's because they are public domain, so they get it free, but still can charge us the same price.

Even better than the first collection

This collection of stories surpassed my expectations, listening to it fresh off the heels of the first collection (which I loved) I didn't think it could get better but I was wrong. The narrator again was superb and this is such a great peek into Anton Chekhov

Solid narrator, and Chekhov's not bad either!

What was most interesting to me about listening to volumes one and two of Chekhov's short stories, is how much Chekhov improved as a writer in a fairly short time frame. His early stories feel more like quick sketches, while toward the end of volume two there is more than just humor, there is depth, life.

Enough with the falsetto!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Unfortunately no. Here is the reason. Mr. Heald belongs to the vast cohort of audio readers who think they must somehow mimic the voice of the characters in a dialogue. The way he does it is use the same falsetto voice indistinctly for women, children, old people, and timid people. Conversely, men are made to sound gruff and mumbling. The effect is condescending towards the character, the writing, and at times it's misogynistic. These mannerisms he injects into the dialogue prevent us from entering into the story and distract us from the language. As you go on listening, it becomes more and more unbearable. A terrible pity, for it would have been so easy not to do it! Why doesn't Audible give its readers some precise instructions? No falsetto! Don't add your interpretation to the text, don't play actor. Chekhov really does not need your help!

Would you be willing to try another one of Anthony Heald’s performances?

Absolutely not; unless he changes his style and stops mimicking the characters with his falsetto voice.